A Voltron Christmas
by CLDJendis66
Summary: Christmas in space anyone? [VSS gift for radbanette on tumblr]


"Explain again why it's tradition? Wrapping lights around an unruly shrub?" questioned Allura as she stood staring at the Blue Paladin unwrap the lights that Pidge and Hunk worked hard to make in their lab.

"Really Allura? 'Kay how about this? It just looks pretty and involves teamwork, so everyone bonds," clarified the Blue Paladin.

"AH! That makes more sense!" she exclaimed as she raised a finger excitedly.

Shiro rolled his eyes as he smirked at how teamwork in anything was always a benefit to the Altean Princess. It was rather more amusing how they had readily agreed to place their "tree" by the dining area to make access to the kitchen easier. The other reason was to prevent it from becoming a possible obstacle in navigating throughout the castle, or so Coran claimed.

That Altean was presently busying himself in the kitchen gathering forth all the ingredients they had available for Hunk's use. Most of them were from collecting supplies or items that were given as gifts from making alliances with other alien species. In a short amount of time, the counter was filled with multicolored ingredients, of various shapes, sizes, and aromas.

Keith sat on the edge of said and proceeded to ask Coran about them for the sake of curiosity. This sent Coran into a long winded explanation, or as the boys frequently joked, "excited story mode."

Space Dad watched him, listening eagerly before turning his gaze to the Christmas tree, and noticed that Lance was no longer unraveling the lights, but instead gawking at the Mullethead.

Pidge quickly took advantage of the situation by snatching the lights out of his grasp and wrapping them all around the lovestruck Cuban. The Princess, standing close to Shiro, stepped forward to object to their behavior. She was stopped short with his hand on her shoulder. Looking back at him, he smiled at her gently and put his finger to his lips to silence any possible objections.

True, they were **the** **paladins** of Voltron, but they were still teenagers full of energy. They needed a break every once in a while from such an immense responsibility. She turned and looked on them, smiling silently.

"HUZZAH!" shouted the Green Paladin as she activated the lights, snapping Lance out of his hopeless reverie.

"Huh? Wait…what the quiznak?! Why am I-PIIIIIIDGE!" he exclaimed as he found himself trapped and lit up instead of the Christmas tree. "I hate you so much right now," he murmured as he deadpanned at the Green Paladin that was on the floor laughing at his predicament.

"What's goin-OH MY GOD LANCE!" cried out Hunk in looking up from mixing as he burst into laughter at how ridiculous his best friend looked. "She got you good! This is gold I tell you!" Keith and Coran were not far behind on chortled with him.

"I rather prefer this over hanging lights on an overgrown shrub," admitted Allura smugly.

"We would have to fig're out how to place the rest of the decorations on him though," mentioned Coran as he stroked his mustache pensively.

"Really guys?! Shiro?"

"I had no involveme-"

"Shiro prevented me from warning you in favor of the team needing fun."

The glare he sent to Space Dad was not easy to ignore. "The betrayal is real. I declare all of you unfriended."

"Quit being dramatic Lance and this isn't facebook," piped in Keith, hopping off the counter and moving in his direction to help him untangle.

Lance blinked at him in astonishment. "How do you-nonono no- Did you even have a Facebook?"

Keith rolled his eyes in disbelief, responding flatly, "I was forced to get one for a project in highschool, but I never used it."

"I'm just shocked you even knew anything about social media."

"What is that supposed to mean?" the other boy demanded as he subconsciously finished freeing Lance.

Lance opened his mouth to retort, but replied with, "Nevermind," instead in an attempt to not ruin the mood and turned away from his crush.

It ended up not working in the slightest.

As Lance moved away, Keith grabbed his elbow.

"Tell me."

Lance sighed. This wouldn't end well.

"Keith… buddy. Pleeeease let me go."

"Not until you tell me what you were going to say."

From afar, Pidge had taken Keith's spot on the counter and started recording the scene unfolding before the team.

Lance audibly sighed, and then made a point to look at no one in particular. "Man, maybe someday you'll learn."

"Learn what? Why are you like this?"

Lance slipped his arms out of his jacket and placed his hands on his hips as he replied with, "At least I'm not overly sensitive, **unlike** somebody I know," before making a raspberry at him and running off.

"You are so dead!" Keith yelled as he took off after him.

Shiro smacked his forehead at how ridiculous those two could get, but he was well aware that they weren't going to kill each other…okay most likely not, he hoped.

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"Get back here you idiot!"

"Can't catch meeeee!" Lance mocked at Ketih as he dashed down the hallway, thankful that he spent a lot of time figuring out the shortcuts to different locations of the castle. That gave him the advantage in disorienting the Red Paladin.

Lance hadn't at all planned this. He had intended on giving Keith his gift alone after giving everyone else's like he wanted. Having lost sight of Keith, he took a quick detour to his room to snatch the small wrapped box on his bed. He hoped the effort he went through to make it was worth it once he saw Keith again.

He didn't have to wait long.

As soon as he cleared the door frame, he was tackled to the floor by an agitated Keith. The boys fell into an almost tangled pile. The fall was not pretty, and it took him a moment to process what had occurred.

When his brain finally caught up, he realized his crush's body was pressing down on him, and he was panting heavily from running around for so long to try and find him. It was a struggle to focus.

Now what? He had no idea what to do.

Lance still trying to mentally catch up to the situation, was snapped back to reality by Keith.

"Don't say anything."

Lifting his head, he looked down at his comrade. "What's wrong?" he asked, with a concerned air.

Lance couldn't help burst out laughing. It was so out of the blue that he placed a hand over his face in disbelief at the circumstance. Still being pinned down from above. "Seriously, of all the things I expected you to say, **that** was not one of them."

"Come on, idiot, out with it. I've trained enough with you now to know when you're anxious about something."

How he managed to say that so casually with the situation they were in baffled him entirely.

"And here I was prepared for you to kill me," he said as he tried to push Keith up off of him slightly, to give them some breathing space. He felt stifled.

As Lance twisted to look away from him to gather his gumption, he leaned on his elbow, and Keith him a good bit. "Quit stalling," Keith said flatly.

Sighing, Lance made up his mind. It was all or nothing, now. "You ever fear rejection, Keith?"

This was not what he had expected to hear, but it was clear Lance wasn't trying to hold himself back anymore. He answered him, soft and low.

"Sometimes…"

Lance glanced sideways at Keith, who was now sitting back on his heels, and even in the low light he was sure a blush had creeped across his downward tilted face. A tingle ran down his spine at the possibility.

He closed his eyes, and reached into his jacket's inner pocket.

Fishing out the package, he rambled. "Well, what I'm about to do has me ready to die from fear of rejection. Like, grave is dug, and I all gotta do is fall into it if I mess this up, so here."

Keith raised his look at Lance pushing the small wrapped present in his direction. It felt like an eternity before he cautiously and slowly reached his hand out to take the package.

Ripping away the wrapping paper, Keith stared down at the black box that was inside. He delicately opened it, revealing a carefully folded pair of gloves that seemed strikingly familiar.

"What…"

"They're made out of a material that's sturdier than leather. I know you have them on practically all the time, but I noticed that they were starting to wear out a while back while we were training."

"How did you…"

"I designed the patterns and the stitching, Pidge checked the materials we had available on the ship, and Hunk helped me put it together with altean tech."

"Why…"

"Because…I like you…," he said softly and barely over a whisper.

There. He said it.

And now he was debating to jump in the grave or not.

Suddenly, he felt his arm be moved away. "What are you-" he cut off when he saw Keith looking away shyly. His mesmerizing eyes searching for the right words to say, "I…l-like you too."

It was too good to be true. It just had to be.

"Am I dreaming?"

The typical eyeroll he received from Keith confirmed this was, in fact, happening.

"Um…mind getting off me now?"

"What? Oh! Right! Yeah…" he said as he scrambled off Lance. They were now sitting up and each with a hand behind their necks out of nervousness as they tried to find words on how to continue their conversation. Lance managed to find his voice first, "Since, we uh-well-er- like each o-other, do you wanna b-be together? Like dating…or something…?"

"Y-y-yeah. I'd…I'd like that," he replied, right before he was startled by a hug from Lance. Again they found themselves on the floor, this time laughing with relief and jubilation. When they finally stood up to meet back with the team, Keith said, "Wait."

"Hm?" hummed Lance before he watched him take off his old gloves. He blushed as he realized what he was doing and was speechless at how much better the ones he made for Keith looked better on him in person than in his imagination.

"Wow, these feel amazing!" he beamed as he felt them out. The material was similar in thickness, but had greater elasticity. As he unceremoniously activated his bayard to test the grip on his sword, it had no reduction in friction either.

Lance sighed in relief at hearing how happy Keith was with his present. Suddenly, he felt Keith's hand in his and looked down at the connection before looking up at him. He realized they were both staring at their hands, their cheeks flushed. He spoke, "Thank you…for the gloves I mean…I-um-love them."

At that the Lance grinned at him. "Should we head back?"

The Red Paladin smiled back him. "Probably."

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When they made their way back to the common room, they found Hunk snacking on the cookies he had made to mimic the ones found back on Earth. Pidge had gotten help from Coran in putting up the lights on the tree, and Allura found a new, small joy in adding seemingly traditional ornaments to it. Some were of crystals and stones they had come across in their travels, while the rest consisted of items they had crafted from something that was similar to air drying clay. The dyes and paints had been bothersome to get. Due to Keith's talent in drawing, the traders were willing to make in exchange with someone who had respect for art and understanding of it.

Thankfully they had a large tree because the team had a field day in creating their ornaments. Predictably, Lance had caused trouble by dragging in pretty much everyone to debate about what was the best color to decorate a tree with. This led to them to wasting paint trying to chase each other to mark on them their "preferred color". It stopped when Shiro put his foot down and telling to behave or they wouldn't get to put their ornaments on their Christmas tree.

They all groaned at the killjoy, but they knew he was right.

Blank stares and silence greeted them when they reentered the lounge.

"What were you two up to?" Hunk asked with a tone that indicated he knew all too well, and the beet red they both turned gave them all the answer that was needed.

"I win the bet. Pay up, all of you," declared Pidge proudly as she held out her hand to receive her well won spoils.

"You guys were betting on us?!"

"What the quiznak guys?!"

"Recall that you are not allowed to gamble or buy anything close to caffeine with this Pidge," addressed Space Dad with a biting tone, as he put his share into her upturned palm.

"But we're in space…there are no rules…"

Hunk deadpanned at her, while taking a bite of another cookie. "We are not reliving what happened last time you got your hands on that substance similar to caffeine."

"I'm with Hunk on that one, it was a miracle we weren't attacked when that occurred. I don't think the Green Lion could have been able to help you focus," added the Princess with a stern look her way.

Pidge pouted and crossed her arms in frustration. "You all are no fun."

"Don't be like that. You know we're all just looking out for you," said Shiro as he ruffled her hair reassuringly. She relaxed at the motion and gave in.

"Yeah, I know Daaaaad."

Everyone laughed at her teasing, but by now they were pretty accustomed to calling him that, considering how fatherly he was with the team and how he was excellent at being a leader under difficult scenarios. He had his moments of vulnerability just like everyone else, but that didn't mean they thought of him any less. If anything, they were touched by how he would do so much for them when he already had so much on his plate to deal with.

Coran was rather excited to introduce them to the various Altean meals they only ever prepared for a holiday similar to what the team called Christmas in their homeworld. Of course, certain ingredients had to be substituted with how Altea no longer existed, which made Allura quite homesick in realizing how much of a challenge remaking anything would be. Team Voltron took it in stride though, and spent many nights to gather data of all sorts of edible delectables across space. From there, they would compare them to the ingredients in the data logs of the castleship and then decide what would be best to taste.

That was where this all started, eating and creating a nice memory as they all pitched in to finish putting up ornaments on the tree. The quaintness really started to grow on Allura and Coran. One of the cutest characteristics of this space tree was that it changed colors based on the emotions of those surrounding it, similar to how people paired certain pigments with emotions back on earth. Lance hadn't wanted them to let the tree die, so Coran fashioned a hovering planter of sorts, making it easy to move around whenever they wanted.

Hunk had insisted that they have a movie on hand to watch, but due to no Netflix in space much to his chagrin, he had taken upon it himself to film the team being silly during their many adventures across the universe. Afterwards, he compiled them all into one large file that could play for hours, which he began to play as they all sat down to eat. Numerous laughs and conversations filled the table about the video which literally had everyone in it, including Hunk himself and the mice.

Various expressions were made at the food they tried, from like to love to dislike and to hate. Regardless, they enjoyed the company and experience. Then, Lance excitedly went towards the tree to get his share of gifts to hand out. When they opened them, they were rather astonished. Lance, miraculously had found time to make everyone cozy beanie hats with cat ears. He even dyed them specific colors according to their lion and personality. There was green for Pidge, yellow for Hunk, red for Keith, blue for himself, black for Shiro, teal for Coran, and fuchsia for Allura. Pidge and Hunk of course had pitched in getting him the materials, but he hadn't explicitly told them what he was going to make.

Hunk's turn came and his present, aside from preparing an awesome meal with Coran, had been little lion charms that easily attached to the bayard like magnets and didn't interrupt the transformations to different weapons. This prompted the paladins to bring out their bayards and see the outcomes, which turned out to be rather fantastic.

Pidge had actually created a console similar to an Xbox with enough ports for ALL of them to play together. She even made controllers in the same colors that the Blue Paladin had chosen for the beanies he made for everyone. Hunk and Lance had assisted the Green Paladin with programming some games similar to what they had at home like Pac Man, Mario Kart, and Zelda. Coran and Allura were rather at a loss on what to do, but once Lance explained to them how it worked, they were overly excited to test it out with everyone. Nevertheless, Shiro insisted they wait until the remaining gifts were handed out.

Coran was next in presenting them items called Star Shine, rare crystals known for how they brought good luck and protection to their owners. He had modified them to easily attach to their helmets by the foreheads once they found the moment to do that. The Cool Space Uncle was showered in hugs for his meaningful gift.

Shiro had not been all too sure what to make, so he had settled on writing letters to everyone about why they were so dear to him. He even wrote something for each of the lions and the mice. Many if not all of team Voltron cried. Hands down on Space Dad having skills writing masterpieces. It was rather obvious that he didn't expect this when he struggled to try and calm them all down before he was drowning in hugs like Coran had been earlier.

Keith followed after, rather anxious about his presents, but he managed. The Red Paladin had ended up sketching out portraits of each of the members, including the mice and lions with parts that Coran secretly helped him gather on a particular planet known for their obsession with art. It had been rather tricky to decide how to draw them all, but he had been proud of the outcome. Lance was astonished by his talent and began shouting about how he couldn't has asked for a better boyfriend like the drama queen he was.

Allura was last. It had been difficult for her to come up with something to give to the chosen heroes of the universe and not have it be useless or awkward, so she decided to compose some music for them. Hunk even paused the video for her to perform with the musical instrument she had practiced for some time for this small event. This was her best idea with to thank them for being such a great family and for always doing their best.

"So shall we proceed with the destruction of friendships with Mario Kart?" piped up Pidge with a mischievous grin while taking a seat on the couch they brought into the room.

"This is where I turn dad mode off and say, you are ON Pidge," he declared as he took a seat at the edge of the couch.

"Ooooh, Space Dad is part of the competition," announced Hunk excitedly.

"I refuse to lose to you younglings," piped in Coran as he took a seat by his Princess.

"This shall be most interesting," brought up Allura as she smirked at the oncoming challenge.

"Destruction is inevitable," proclaimed Lance as he was dragged to the couch by the Red Paladin, where they ended up snuggling up next to each other like the dorks they were.

"I'll make sure to throw all the blue shells at you," added Keith to his new boy toy with a wicked grin on his face. Lance would've complained had it not been for the fact that he was busy trying to not be overwhelmed by how attractive he looked.


End file.
